Monday 2 December 2013

Name Change

Morning Ladies,

I have a huge post coming today on my hectic weekend between The Make Up Fairy's Bday Bash on Friday and my first Bloggers Meet Up Saturday but before I go any further I have changed the name on my blog link.

The new link is www.masteringyourmakeup.blogspot.ie

I was a little too new to the blogging world that I didn't realise naming it after myself was not the best plan so to capture the essence of my blog I have changed the name yet still the official title will be "The Ordinary Girls Guide to Mastering her Makeup"

Thanks everyone :)

Stay beautiful,

Emma x

Friday 29 November 2013

Inglot Masterclass Blanchardstown

Last night there was such a buzz about Blanchardstown shopping centre you can really tell Christmas is on the way. I had booked myself in for the masterclass in Inglot and was very excited to see manager Laura recreate a beautiful smokey eye on her stunning model Chloe. 






You'll have to forgive my note taking, it was manic in the shop last night... it was the first night of the Christmas event in Blanchardstown so there was people everywhere!!

Laura began by showing us the finished look on half of Chloe's face and then she was to recreate it on the other side. Chloe already had her foundation on so the focus was on the eye make up.


Cheeky little shot before we started :)


Laura began with applying;

A medium brown matte colour (395) all over lid with 6SS blending brush all over the lid and crease almost brining the colour to the brow bone.

Next she applied a warmer brown(391) (darker) all over lid. You can use the same 6SS brush for this and always use circular motions as this helps with blending the colour. You can bring this colour up to the crease but lightly.


Next you take a 19P brush which is a small blending brush and apply black eye shadow all over lid. This can create a small amount of loose product but don't worry about this you can sweep off any excess when you are finished the complete eye make up. Blend together with blending brush 6SS you used before. The most important element of creating a smokey eye is blending. using circular motions is best, there should be no harsh lines between the colours but you should still see the difference between them as you progress up you crease and close to your brow bone.


The real smokey element to this look is created using no.87 pigment and pat this onto lid  using the 19P brush and blend very well. Pigments almost always guarantee fall off but this can be taken care of easily.

Black gel liner was then applied to the bottom lash line using the 23T  brush. Laura gave us the tip to get your client to look the opposite way of brush to help keep them relaxed.  Half way through, ask them to  look the other way when lining the bottom lash line.

Don't worry about being messy with the liner here as you'll smudge it out with a 22T brush. This is a concealer brush but is great for blending out the liner into under eye blending liner downwards.


You can then go back in with pigment (used on the lid) under the eye to smudge the look even more.


*Another great tip from Laura was night was you can use a cotton bud to blend away any excess you may have created.


To warm up the under eye you can very lightly go back in with the 6SS brush using the 609 warmer brown colour under eye.


Back to the top of the eye then; Taking the 23T line top of eye. As your client to look straight ahead and  flick the liner out and towards the brow bone. Starting at the end of the flick, fill the line back in (working from the outside in)


When applying liner to another person, they can sometimes get very nervous if they see the liner brush coming for them so a tip to avoid this is ask your client to look down and to the outside of their body to get the inner corner of eye and then change as you move across the eye.

After you have applied your liner it is now time to add your lashes. For this look Laura chose lashes 76S for a bigger fuller eye. Chloe had beautiful big eyes and quite full lashes herself. A trick is to measure the shape of the eye when choosing lashes, always start in the middle n cut from there.

For dramatic looks use duo glue in black so you don't have to worry about white marks from the glue on the black liner.

*Another tip: Ask your client to look down at their knees when applying lashes so they are distracted but you can make sure they are applied right. Remember to press the false lashes down to sit on the natural lashes.

You can then go back in with the 6SS brush and blend colours on crease almost to brow bone.

Taking a clean fluffy brush, you can now clean off excess pigment/shadow which may have fallen onto your cheeks.




Onto the face:

Use a lighter concealer to highlight the look. This can lighten the eye area after you have applied such dark colours on the eye. Pat on concealer no.95 with your finger.
Pressed powder in 42 was used to create a small glow, this powder was slightly lighter than foundation and patted onto the face lightly.
Next Laura took their new Hd illuminating powder no.45 was patted all over face. This created a beautiful glow all over Chloe's face and really set off the festive party look.
Next a contour powder in 45 was used  to contour the hollow of the cheek. This runs from the top of ear to  outer corner of eye. You only need to lightly brush in straight line and be sure to blend out. We all know how much I love to contour but I just struggle to get the balance right to look like I have anything on to looks like there's way too much on. Once the hollow of the cheek is done you can then work the powder up into temple. 

Blush for this look is quite subtle and for this look, no.32 blush was applied using circle motions on the Apple of the cheeks. You need to have the cheesy smile on your face to be sure you are applying your blush in the right place.  

Now as we all know Christmas is the one time of year when glitter is completely acceptable and this highlighting sparkle dust no.2 is perfect. This is a must on my Christmas list now. You need only a tiny bit of this on your brush. Be sure to tap off the brush on the back of your hand and then very gently, pat onto cheek bone n temple. You will be a sparkly goddess now.

The lipstick used was slim gel 62. This is not a conventional red colour but very festive and really set off the smokey look on Chloe. You can apply this with small lip brush.

Finally to complete your look, Highlight in brown bone using 395, pat in with finger but not into dark section.


Chloe was a beautiful model and Laura was a fantastic teacher. She always made sure that we could see and could follow her instruction easily. She was kind enough to even take a call from me this morning just to run over some of the brushes to make sure I have the right details. Below now is the product list used for this look. You can call in to Inglot Blanchardstown and ask any questions you have about this look. The girls who work there are so helpful and I am a big lover of the brand. Much easier to purchase now that I made the move to Dublin :) I am attending Liffey Valley Inglot next week so will bring you a full post on that look after it. Thanks again to Laura and Chloe for a great masterclass.



Stay beautiful,

Emma x

Twitter: @emmajcsheehan
Instagram: emmalvsapose 'Emma Sheehan'

Tuesday 26 November 2013

Creating a Vintage (type) Look

Good morning ladies,

Firstly I say 'type' look because I cannot say for sure that what I class as vintage is in fact right as I'm not a Make Up Artist myself, but I have kept an eye on the trends and this seems to be everywhere!


Black winged eye liner and red lips!!!


To set off this look I find having a strong brow can really enhance the liner lip look.


Eye liner can be tricky business at the best of times, with many ways to apply it; pencil, gel, liquid and even markers.


I personally use either a gel or liquid on my top line and a pencil on my bottom waterline.













To begin to create a good flick you need to firstly accept this takes time, I say this because for ages I thought the only way to create a flick was to do it all in one sweeping motion and then I wondered why it always looked so messy! 

*If you are using a gel and a brush, apply some of the gel to the back of your hand and dip your brush in. There are two types of brush I use, a pointed liner brush and a slanted liner brush. Sometimes I would find the pointed brush easier*


The first step is to apply liner to the center of your lid. The inside of your eye should always have the thinnest liner and then the line should get thicker as you move towards the outer corner of your eye.


The second step is to fill the inner corner of your eye. Try keep as close to the lash line as possible here to keep it nice and thin. (This can be difficult with liquid sometimes it ends up in my eyeball which is quite painful)


Next apply liner to the outer corner of your eye getting thicker as you move out. If using a brush of any kind, take your time, little by little.


You may need to stretch your eye out to create the flick. Hold your skin out towards your temple and follow the brush movement upwards. This may look odd at the start as it does not join the corner of your eye but this is ok as you will join it together in the next step.


You fill in the gap by creating a triangle and filling it in. The triangle should go from the outer corner of your eye pointing upwards towards your brow and meeting the thicker outer liner on top of your lash line.


A further option is to smooth out the line with black eye shadow on an angle brush if you want it looking nice and even.


For your bottom lashes, I usually use a pencil and lightly apply it to the lash line for this look rather than the waterline.


Adding lashes and mascara finishes off the beautiful 'cat eye' look.


Brows are defined as described before in my Eyerebrushed lesson, filling in the bottom line of the brows first, followed by the top and then working into the gaps. You only apply lightly to existing hair to keep the colour consistent but if you want to create the HD look, be sure to edge off the inner corners of the brow into an almost square look.


Applying lip pencil should always be carried out with a sharp lip pencil. Working from the outside in, lightly apply the liner taking extra care when working on the cupids bow. If you have thinner lips and would like them to look fuller, you can add liner to the top of your lips and then when you apply lipstick, your lips will appear fuller. 


Lipstick again should be applied using a small lip brush, using a 'bullet' as they are called, can smudge and ruin all the effort you put in with your pencil so be careful to apply little by little but ensuring to apply right into the corners of your lips so you don't look silly when you smile :)


When creating a vintage look, I love using my MAC Russian Red lippy but another great colour is the Catrice My Red Card.


A light contour/highlight and blush can be applied when creating a vintage look but they real focus on your face should be your brows, liner and lips.


Hope this helps, I'll be sure to post a step by step pic soon and you can all be vintage fab this Christmas. My own pics this morning I tried using a pencil.... not as easy so I think its back to gel for me :)




Stay beautiful,

Emma x

Friday 22 November 2013

Creating A Beautiful Smokey Eye (Step by Step)

I think from all my make up lessons, between contouring and creating smokey eyes practice really is key. I have tried a few times to create the great smokey eyes MUA's like Maisy in La Beaute create but I am a long way off that. Unfortunately my laptop is still in the shop so I am creating this post off my ipad so I don't have pics but I will be sure to post lots of pics once I get my laptop back.

Step by step smokey eye:

To create a smokey eye, choose four colour; Base colour for the crease, darker edge colour which will also be added to the crease, a lid colour and the darkest colour for the outside of the eye.

Brushes you will need to create this look:
Flat Shadow Brush
Clean Fluffy Blending Brush
Small Smudger Brush

Shadow:  Start with the crease- apply the base crease colour with a shadow brush. Blend Blend Blend... using this blending to move the crease colour a little higher towards the arch of your brow.

*a shadow brush applies colour but you need blending brushes separately*

Next apply the darker colour into a V shape at the side of the eye, blend this from the V into the crease but not higher than that and not to take over the crease base colour. Shadows should flow gradually into each other. Next to apply the lid colour, take a different brush and apply the brighter lid colour all over until it meets the V colour and the crease. Blend this lid colour in using a clean brush but do keep it defined. The last colour to use is to be applied to the outter corner which again is put on the eye using a V shape and blended very well so that the colour appears to run into each other easily.

Eye liner: Apply a line of gel eye liner with the outside edge becoming thicker. To make a cat eye, apply the liner on the bottom tear line including the lash line and bring the line out and up to meet the shadow. Fill back in the gel liner to meet the top line of the eye creating a triangle. Then apply some liner into the crease and blend using the crease blending brush to really darken and define the crease.

Lashes: Apply false lashes in whichever way is easiest for you. Some people use a tweezers, I personally tend to look half down and balance the lashes onto my own. Before you begin to apply lashes be sure to measure them to your lash line. Cut them is necessary and then bend them a few times to ensure they are not stiff. This makes them much easier to apply. Apply mascara to both the top and bottom lashes. Squeeze your own lashes and the false lashes together with either your fingers or an eye lash curler so they look like one.

This is a step by step guide I had from my one to one lesson with Maisy.

I have also started to watch youtube tutorials to help me with the smokey eye look and one person who I always seem to come back to is Lauren Curtis. She is fantastic and although makes it look very easy, she really does take it step by step for you to get it right.

Here I have chosen her red mahogny video for you to see just how simple she makes creating a fantastic look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7ESgz2X_sc

Firstly apply a red shadow (she lists all her products in the video) all over the lid with your finger then blend up and into the crease with a fluffy blending brush.

Using a short smudger brush, thickly apply this colour to the bottom lash line.

As you are blending up into the crease create a V shape of shadow out the outter edge of your eye.

Apply the darker red colour onto the lid with your finger first, then with a blending brush blend into the crese and all over the lid.

Add the new darker colour to the bottom lash line with a smudger brush again.

Add pencil eye liner roughly to the top and bottom lash line and using the smudger from before bend blend blend the liner into the lash lines.

Go back in with your pencil liner into the waterline to create definition.

As you were blending the liner, be sure to blend it into the outter corner of the eye into that V shape.

Using a white highlighting shade on a shadow brush, highlight the brow bone.

Add mascara and lashes!!

I love this look as I feel it is very festive and does not seem to be too intensive for us non experts!

I found this pop of colour video last night and I really hope to create something similar this weekend so if it works out I will deffo get a pic up :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aODHce3Bi00

Another person I love to watch on YouTube is Nicole Guerriero. She is american and posts fantastic videos!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rH0Kg49atM&feature=c4-overview&list=UUz0Qnv6KczUe3NH1wnpmqhA

If you know of any other fab youtubers to watch please do let me know.

Stay beautiful,

Emma x

Emma Sheehan Blog on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emmajcsheehanblog
Twitter: @emmajcsheehan
Instagram: Emma Sheehan emmalvsapose


Monday 18 November 2013

Cleaning Your Brushes.

Apologies ladies my laptop is sick I have no pics :(

Brushes are key to creating beautiful make up looks and I have mentioned a range of brushes in previous posts. My go to brushes are the real techniques brushes but also since my fantastic win from The Make Up Crew Dublin, I have been using my new brushes loads and I love them!

Before embarking on this blog, I have to admit I was very bad at taking care of my make up brushes. For the most part, my make up routine was so poor I rarely used brushes so now that I have them and want them to last, I am finally taking care of them like I should.

From reading posts from other bloggers, tweeting asking questions and also watching YouTube tutorials, you soon learn there are many ways to clean your brushes.

For me, I started to use baby shampoo and warm (not hot) water. The reason you do not want to use hot water on the brush is because you risk melting the glue which holds your brush together. You could end up with a brush in pieces and that’s a tragedy no girl wants to have.

So taking your brush, hold it upside-down with the bristles facing down into the sink and run the water on the brush hair only. Put some baby shampoo on your hand and swirl the brush around on your hand taking most of the makeup off it.

After this step rinse the brush again, squeezing out the excess make up.

Depending on which brush you are cleaning you may need to repeat the shampoo step. 
Foundation brushes can sometimes be the hardest brushes to clean.

When you are sure the brush is now clean, squeeze out as much of the water as you can from the brush head but do take care not to pull hard on the brush as you may have loosened up some of the glue while cleaning.

Fold a towel into a third of its size so it creates a shelf for the brushes to dry on.

Taking your clean brush, dry it against the towel. You need to be very careful not to lose the shape of the brush so mould it with your hands before leaving it to dry.

*I recently saw on YouTube, you can buy mesh nets for drying brushes which hold their shape and still allow enough air through the hair to dry the brush properly. I have since found them on EBay for €2 so will be using them once they get here to save my brushes.*

The shelf that you have created with the towel will help stop the brushes drying with one flat side so place all your clean brushes with the hairs hanging off the edge of the towel, in a warm place overnight until they are fully dry. I left mine in my bedroom under the radiator so it was warm but not hot enough to melt the glue.

Do take care of your brushes ladies, they are a great investment and will last a lot longer if you take care of them.

If anyone has any other suggestions or advice on how to clean makeup brushes, I'd love to hear from you.


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Stay beautiful,


Emma x

Buying the Essentials

Just a quick Monday post on some mega saving I made yesterday. Apologies for the lack of pictures my laptop is unwell again and I can't seem to load them from the ipad :(

It can sometimes cost you an arm and a leg when you run out of all your beauty essentials. This used to happen to me, all of a sudden I’d be out of about five things at the same time and this weekend was no different.

I needed to get some new baby shampoo to clean my brushes, cotton ear buds, inter-dental toothbrushes,nail varnish remover,  razors and conditioner. I went to Boots first as it was the closest place to me and usually I like Boots because they always have some sort of offer on but unfortunately I was out of luck this week. Trying to work out how much all I needed would cost me was around €20 so as there is a Tesco and Dealz in the same complex, I thought why not try them.

Tesco was excellent!! I got my baby shampoo for 86c, my cotton ear buds for 65c, inter-dental toothbrushes for €2.20. Serious savings compared to Boots on that occasion.



I then went to Dealz and again as we all know already Dealz is bargain central. My conditioner was €1.49, my nail varnish remover €1.49, Razors €1.49.

In total I saved over €10 by just trying a different shop. Sometimes you can be so lucky when you want to get a few bits so keep an eye out for offers and treat yourself always.

Stay beautiful,


Emma x

Friday 15 November 2013

Competition Wins.... Spoiled Rotten!!

Ladies....

Facebook and Twitter can be littered with 'Like and Share' and 'Follow and Retweet' competitions but ladies... It is so worth entering, over the last few months I have been blessed with winning!

It was from entering so many competitions myself that I decided it was time for my Facebook blog page to have it's very first competition. I can now understand just how difficult it can be to find a winner, the list of names I had to put into a bowl was ridiculous but I really wanted it to be fair. I even enlisted the help of my mum as my beautiful assistant to help draw the name. A big should out to my fab winner Aoife Daly who has had her beautiful Fuschia Make Up palette sent to her in the post. I'm sure she will love it as much as I do.

I wanted to write this post on my wins, not to brag but to genuinely thank all of the companies and people who run the competitions and give away such amazing prizes.

The first prize I want to talk about was my win from MakeUp Waterford. This is freelance MUA Sinead Sullivan. Sinead had posted a like and share competition to win an ArtDeco blush set. She had been sent two and because she loved it so much she decided to do a little give-away which I was lucky enough to win. For Sinead's comp you just had to comment under the picture of the set. She then chose 5 names at random and posted them onto her page and the first person to get back to her won the set. It came in a beautiful gift box with a blush and brush. I had never tried ArtDeco before so was very excited to receive the set. I am totally in love with it. There are three different colours in the palette so you can mix and match which one you would like to wear. The brush is colour co-ordinated with the blush box so it's extremely pretty. If you have someone who likes their blush, I would highly recommend this set as a Christmas present.




You can link in with Sinead for makeup applications or lessons on: 
www.makeupwaterford.com
Facebook: MakeUp Waterford
Twitter: @MakeupWaterford

The second prize I want to write about is from the amazing The Make Up Crew. This is an agency based in Dublin who provide courses in Make-Up artistry with some of Ireland's best Freelance Artists available. This competition had a huge prize. Again it was on Facebook and the competition was a like share and comment. This prize was a massive 12 piece brush set but not just one but three sets were up for grabs. I have two beautiful younger sisters, Amy and Kate, both 22 (yep they're twins) who also have a love of makeup although I wasn't sure they had the right tools. Brushes can be quite expensive, although we know I have a huge love for real techniques, I couldn't help but really want to win this comp for me and the twins. The 12 piece brush set looked amazing and from using it myself over the last few days, I am in love!! Each and every day I shared The Make Up Crew's facebook page on both my personal page and my blog page and left a comment. It became a little obsession for me over the week but I could not believe how good this prize was I was a determined monkey to win. To my absolute delight, I won the three brush sets and myself and the twins were over the moon. From speaking to the twins, they are in love with the set and getting great use out of them. Thanks to The Make Up Crew, I am now attending their master class day on December 14th in Dublin and my guest is my mum. She's so excited to see how a master class works and learn some new skills for herself. After my class I will of course have a full blog post sharing what I learned so keep an eye out for that in December. Now that I have made the big move to Dublin, I am hoping with a little saving next year I shall embark on a make up course and move further into my love of all things make up. 



You can check out the fantastic Make Up Crew on:
www.themakeupcrew.ie
Facebook: The Make Up Crew
Twitter: @THEMAKEUPCREW
Instagram: themakeupcrew


The third prize only arrived this morning and I am so excited to play with all my new treats. This amazing package arrived at my new home in Dublin and I couldn't wait to see what was inside. This prize was from Martina Curran from CelticBeauty. Martina is a beauty blogger from Ireland who runs the amazing blog martinacurran19.blogspot.ie. Martina posted a competition on her own blog page as she had reached a new number of followers. I had just discovered Martina's blog and loved it so chanced entering. The blog is full of beauty reviews and I especially love the Mani Monday section. The prize pack was huge... a make up bag full of new products which I haven't tried before so I can't wait to test them all out. I have already used the Rimmel Wake Me Up shimmer touch in 'shimmering sand' and I love it. I feel all glitzy and warm this freezing Friday. As part of my blogging, I am constantly trying to link in with other bloggers, get ideas from them on what I should blog about and maybe even products to try myself so if you are looking for extra reads please check out Martina's blog.



You can read all about it on:
martinacurran19.blogspot.ie
Twitter: @celticbeauty1 

I love competitions but I must try refrain from entering them all as they can take over your life! I am so grateful to all of the above companies/people for the amazing prizes and also the wonderful correspondence I have received from each of them. I am hoping to do another give away from my own blog before Christmas so keep you eyes peeled.

Stay beautiful,

Emma x

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